Many agricultural processes require the delivery of a granular material, such as seed, fertilizer, herbicides, and the like, from a tank to an outlet or secondary containment system. For example, a planter typically includes one or more tanks that are integrated with the planter implement. The granular material is extracted from the respective tank and dispersed through the planter in the desired configuration. As another example, seeders are generally coupled to a cart that includes one or more tanks secured to the cart. Similar to the planter arrangement, the granular material is supplied from the tanks to the seeder for ultimate distribution to the ground.
Current granular containment assemblies include tank orientations in which the tank, or tanks, are generally oriented transverse to the direction of travel as the tank is pulled behind a tractor or other agricultural vehicle. If the width of the tanks becomes excessive, transporting the containment assembly presents a variety of practical problems, including width restrictions on rural roads. As a result, and in combination with the factors discussed below, the ultimate capacity of these transverse tanks is limited.
In addition, current tanks are generally configured to provide a single granular material drain. In order to accomplish this, steeply angled bottoms are employed to extract all of the granular material from the tank when desired. This arrangement creates long drain distances, the steeply angled bottom shifts the bulk of the granular material upward, thereby raising the center of gravity of the overall granular containment assembly.
Further weight considerations impact the positioning and orientation of the tanks. Specifically, the tanks must be located relative to ground engagement wheels to ensure that the desired amount of tongue weight is carried by the agricultural vehicle, especially as the granular material is expelled from the tanks during operation. Transversely oriented tanks have a tendency to limit the positioning and overall size of the ground engagement wheels as the width of the tanks is expanded to accommodate a greater amount of granular material.
Certain tanks incorporate an internal auger to aid in the removal or transfer of the granular materials. In current tanks, the tank configuration and overall orientation results in a generally centrally located auger opening. As a result, the auger is difficult to access and clean, especially when issues arise during use that require corrective action in the field.
In view of at least the preceding considerations related to current granular containment assemblies, including the drawbacks related to high centers of gravity, long granular material drain distances, limited ground engagement wheel positioning, and difficult auger access and cleaning, a need exists for a granular containment assembly establishing a lower center of gravity, efficient drains, varied ground engagement wheel positioning, and easy auger access.